Courtesy of Dusty Sloan, Ashland Sports Information Director
As a rule, Ashland University's women's basketball team features is an unselfish bunch of players.
The No. 1-ranked Eagles, however, have been collecting records in recent seasons like they want them all to themselves. Another one was earned on Saturday (Jan. 6) afternoon in Marquette, Mich., as Ashland topped host Northern Michigan, 99-59, for its 52nd consecutive win – the most in the history of NCAA Division II women's basketball.
Ashland, the leader in both the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference overall standings the GLIAC South Division, improves to 15-0 overall and 7-0 in the league. The Wildcats are 7-8, 3-4.
The Eagles moved into the top spot on the all-time consecutive victories list by earning one more win than Washburn, which had set the previous mark of 51 from Jan. 26, 2005-March 11, 2006.
Ashland has won its last seven games by an average of 45.4 points, and each by at least 35 points, and is averaging 100.0 points per game this season.
TEN TAKEAWAYS
1. For the 11th time in 15 games in 2017-18, senior forward Laina Snyder scored at least 20 points in a game. She finished with 26 points and nine rebounds, one board shy of her 42nd career double-double.
2. Sophomore guard Renee Stimpert was next in line in the score column with 16 points to go with a team-high five assists and seven steals. Senior forward Andi Daugherty was 7-for-7 from the free-throw line en route to 11 points, which ties her with Tammi Scott for third place on Ashland's all-time scoring list with 1,684 career points.
3. Senior forward Julie Worley came off the bench to post 11 points in 11 minutes.
4. Ashland, the No. 3-ranked team in the country in free-throw percentage, shot 29-of-31 (93.5 percent) from the foul line in Saturday's victory. The Eagles forced 31 turnovers (the fifth time AU has forced at least 30 in a game this season), which led to 42 points.
5. While the offense was working itself out early, Ashland's defense kept NMU off the board for the game's first 3:26. Once the first quarter was complete, the Eagles led 19-12, and six Wildcat turnovers were turned to 10 AU points.
6. Ashland led 21-16 early in the second quarter, then scored the next 11 points in a row to open up a 16-point advantage. Going into the locker room after the first 20 minutes, the Eagles led, 46-30, and were helped by a 16-for-17 showing from the free-throw line, and a favorable 14-4 turnover differential (and 21 points off).
7. Starting the third quarter, Ashland got back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore guard Jodi Johnson and junior guard Maddie Dackin to extend its lead to 52-30. The Eagles' lead was 78-45 going into the fourth quarter, and they went on to victory from there.
8. Ashland narrowly missed out on its fifth straight 100-point game, but did extend its school-record streak of 95-plus-point games to nine games in a row.
9. In addition to the overall win streak, the Eagles tied school marks with their 49th victory in a row in the regular season and 17th in a row in the GLIAC regular season away from home. Ashland has won 14 straight in Michigan, and also extended the following winning streaks to – 33 in a row in the GLIAC regular season, a school-record 27 in a row away from home and a school-record 24 in a row in the regular season away from home.
10. With the D-II women's hoops consecutive wins record in tow, Ashland's next conquest could be the D-II basketball record, men or women, which is 57 straight victories by Winona State's men from Jan. 13, 2006-March 22, 2007.
